Recently Mentioned Books

4. We learn from John Boswell that high levels of gay tolerance, in antiquity, were followed by a counter-reaction and higher levels of prejudice.

That's an excellent new book by Roger Moorhouse .  I found good material on virtually every page:

That's from the new book on music by Alex Ross .  It's not a comprehensive tour de force like The Rest is Noise was, but it is smart and well-written on every page and if you liked the first book you should buy and read the second.  The portraits cover, among others, Radiohead, Bjork, John Luther Adams, Marian Anderson, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Uchida.  The chapter on Bob Dylan is especially good and it eclipses Sean Wilentz's entire recent book on Dylan.

That is Adam Savage, from Jeff Potter's new and periodically interesting book Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food .  This is most of all a book for those who wish to think of cooking in terms of engineering, but without going the molecular gastronomy route.

4. Das's The Difficulty of Being Good is about to come out, FT review here .

3. David Thompson's new book, the amazing Thai Street Food .  Here is a recent article on Thompson's promotion and reinvention of Thai cuisine .

2. Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy , the new book by Diana Kennedy.

That's the new book by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson .  I have a different take on the main argument, but this is an important book for raising some of the key questions of our time.  I would recommend that people read it and give it serious thought.  The writing style is also clear and accessible.  Two of the key arguments are:

2. Matthew Kahn on Climatopolis , his new book .

That is the new book by Adam Phillips , which of course I bought on the spot.  Reading it over lunch, I enjoyed this bit:

That is the new Roger Scruton book , which I finished with pleasure.  Here is one good passage:

The author is Dani Rodrik and the subtitle is Democracy and the Future of the World Economy and it is due out early next year.

Eugene Richter, that's who, in 1893.  There is now a reissue of Richter's Pictures of the Socialistic Future .  There is an interview with Bryan Caplan about the book here .  Here is the book on-line and free .

Here is Doug Irwin , I remember once hearing a related argument from David Glasner (was his piece on that ever published?):

That is a book by Anton Chekhov , part memoir, part ethnographic study of a penal colony and the surrounding economic institutions on Sakhalin Island .  I hardly ever hear of this work, but it is both a literary and social science masterpiece; I will teach it next spring in my Law and Literature class.  Here is one review of the book .  This excerpt reminded me of some recent events:

5. Michael Whinston, Lectures on Antitrust Economics .  A very good introduction to current thinking on antitrust policy, through the lens of theory and empirics.

4. Tom Segev, Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends .  Many books on the Holocaust tread on well-tilled ground, but this was original and compelling throughout.  Here is a useful review , although I think it considerably exaggerates how critical the book is of Wiesenthal.  I also very much like Segev's The Seventh Million .

3. John W. Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor/Hiroshima/9-11 .  Combines public choice and behavioral economics approaches to foreign policy, all through the lens of the events mentioned in the subtitle.  Consistently interesting, and it shows how the intelligence failures leading up to the second Iraq War had many precedents.  Dower is the same guy who wrote the excellent books on the Pacific War and Japanese postwar recovery; I recommend his work more generally.

2. W.G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction .  Pitch perfect throughout, you can add Sebald to the list of authors with first-rate contributions to both fiction and non-fiction.

1. The Hunger Games , by Suzanne Collins.  It's derivative in its set-up, but still it has a splendid plot.  If you're looking to explore the new trend of adults reading works for "young adults," this is a good place to start.  The bottom line: I've just ordered volumes two and three, not just volume two.

The subtitle is How the Economy Works in the Real World and the author is Greg Ip , one of the best and most renowned economics journalists.  This is a very good book for someone who wants to start reading The Economist , or other forms of economics news, but doesn't have enough background knowledge of the real world economy.

That is the new book by Nicholas Phillipson from Yale University Press .  I urge all fans of Adam Smith to read this book.  It covers Smith's life and times more than his texts per se.  It is especially strong on Smith and Hume, Smith's work as a customs inspector, Smith's time in France, Smith and Quesnay, and Smith's dedication to his mother.  I like very much what it covers; my main complaint is that the book is not longer.

In his new book Encounter , Milan Kundera writes:

That's a chapter title from Jonathan Franzen's new book Freedom .  If you think you are going to like this book, you almost certainly will; it delivers on its promise.  The problem is, I never thought I was going to like this book.

That is the subtitle, the title is The Club No One Wanted to Join and the editor is Erin Arvedlund and the compiler is Alexandra Roth.  Here are a few excerpts: